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What's special about your hometown?

Started by webny99, July 16, 2018, 03:21:35 PM

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webny99

It doesn't have to be specifically about the place you were born in, and it doesn't have to be road-related, but both are encouraged.

Rochester, NY, has a really good freeway network. Visitors from the East -and West- Coast seem to be impressed by it. On days when I have no other pressing obligations, I can loop around the entire perimeter of the city on my way home from work - during rush hour - often without stopping, or at least without stopping more than once or twice.
We have great food too - pizza, trash plates, Wegmans, etc. Supposedly there's this theory that anyone that was born and raised in Rochester and leaves, always ends up coming back to stay. Not sure how much truth there is to it, but I know if I had reason to move out of town, I'd want to come back and visit very frequently.



jon daly

Two state roads "kiss" in the center of Ellington, Conn. --- CT-286 and CT-140. Technically, they are separated by Park Street, but that street is so short it barely qualifies.  I have no idea how common this is.

Flint1979

Well Saginaw was a lumbering town back in the 19th century and turned into an automotive town in the 20th century. Now it's a declining city much like Detroit, Pontiac and Flint. There really isn't a lot special about Saginaw though it's an old industrial city with only one General Motors plant remaining. GM use to have a huge plant on southeast corner of the M-46 and I-75 interchange but that is now run by Nexteer and perviously Delphi between GM and Nexteer. The plant is about a mile long running north to south. When GM was there it was called Saginaw Steering Gear. A minor league hockey team once was in Saginaw and called the Saginaw Gears because of this plant. Saginaw still has a junior hockey team called the Saginaw Spirit. The downtown area is experiencing somewhat of a comeback. It's kind of a small city to have so many problems with it, only being about 18 square miles and having a population of about 50,000. Back in 1960, Saginaw had a population of 98,000.

Max Rockatansky

Essentially it is the biggest ghost town that ever existed in the United States, good ole Detroit. 

ce929wax

There is absolutely nothing special about the town I was born and raised for the first 11 years of my life, except that it is headquarters of Perrigo.  Those who are familiar with the area will know immediately which town I am from.  It also has a pretty cool fair in September, but I haven't been in 25 years.  I hated the place growing up, mainly because I got made fun of for being in Special Ed and riding the "short bus."  I moved back in 2013 and part of 2014 briefly and actually thought most of the people were real nice.

Here in Kalamazoo, we have a minor league hockey team, an amateur baseball team, and for those who like beer (I don't), lots of independent breweries.  I would also say for the city being what it is, the public transportation is top notch.  Kalamazoo isn't going to blow you away with world class activities, but it is decent for what it is.


bandit957

My original hometown is the site of the most famous drug bust ever against a particular modern political movement.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

noelbotevera

For the town I was born in, which was Lumberton, NC, was where the film Blue Velvet (directed by David Lynch) takes place. A scene was actually filmed in Lumberton, but everything else is either a set or was filmed in Wilmington. which is an hour to the east (we've actually been to the apartment of one of the main characters).

Chambersburg, where I live currently, was burned down in 1864 by the Confederates. That's about it.

cjk374

I am the special part of my hometown.  :-D  :pan:  :bigass:
Runnin' roads and polishin' rails.

Rothman

Quote from: noelbotevera on July 16, 2018, 10:36:16 PM
For the town I was born in, which was Lumberton, NC, was where the film Blue Velvet (directed by David Lynch) takes place. A scene was actually filmed in Lumberton, but everything else is either a set or was filmed in Wilmington. which is an hour to the east (we've actually been to the apartment of one of the main characters).

Chambersburg, where I live currently, was burned down in 1864 by the Confederates. That's about it.
Chambersburg has the Martin's bread factory. :D
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Rothman

Nothing too special about the place I live now -- just a low-tax suburb of Albany, NY.

Lived in Amherst, MA, though, which is famous for Amherst College, UMass and Hampshire College, as well as being where Emily Dickinson, Noah Webster and Robert Frost lived.  Used to be quite dirty hippie liberal, but has become more yuppie liberal over the past 20 years. 

Oh, and it is named after the guy that came up with the idea of trading smallpox-infected blankets with the local American Indians.

And, don't pronounce the "h" in Amherst, unlike the yokels in Amherst, NY do.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

HazMatt

Lenoir, NC, the self proclaimed 'Furniture Capital of the South'.  I imagine High Point would beg to differ.  Home to a Google Data Center, high-ish poverty rates (but getting better), and the NC Blackberry Festival.

busman_49


LM117

#12
Fremont, NC. It's biggest achievement was getting a Dollar General.
“I don’t know whether to wind my ass or scratch my watch!” - Jim Cornette

inkyatari

The town I was born in, Joliet, IL is where Dairy Queen started, and Jake Blues was imprisoned there.

The town I consider my hometown, Plainfield, IL, was hit by the only F5 tornado in the US to strike in the month of August, effectively wiping out 1/5 of the town.  Also Melissa McCarthy is from there.

The town I live in now has the "Morris Operation" nearby, which is the only de-facto high-level radioactive waste storage site in the United States.
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

plain

Newark, NJ: home to Newark Liberty International Airport and Port Newark. And bodegas where you can find cats sleeping on top of bread.
Newark born, Richmond bred

TheHighwayMan3561

#15
Duluth/Superior-

-Westernmost point of the Great Lakes/most inland port in North America
-Bob Dylan's birthplace (Duluth and Hibbing, his childhood home, fight over who Dylan "belongs" to, which is ironic as Dylan himself wants little to do with either city)
-Duluth Rose Garden
-Aerial Lift Bridge

Superior has the most bars per capita of any city in Wisconsin. Yay, I guess.
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

jon daly

Quote from: jon daly on July 16, 2018, 03:54:44 PM
Two state roads "kiss" in the center of Ellington, Conn. --- CT-286 and CT-140. Technically, they are separated by Park Street, but that street is so short it barely qualifies.  I have no idea how common this is.

I went to grade school next door in Rockville. Gene Pitney was from there and went to HS with my mother. I later lived in Manchester which is right down the road. I-86 went through these towns

webny99

Quote from: cjk374 on July 17, 2018, 08:08:35 AM
I am the special part of my hometown.

Admittedly, I laughed right out loud. Simsboro, from your signature, or somewhere else?

Quote from: Rothman on July 17, 2018, 08:18:20 AM
And, don't pronounce the "h" in Amherst, unlike the yokels in Amherst, NY do.

Irony of all ironies, I had to google "yokel".  :-D
There are plenty of those around - but not in Amherst, which, by the way, is the largest suburb upstate. Population of 125K to the city of Albany's 98K.

cjk374

Quote from: webny99 on July 17, 2018, 12:40:47 PM
Quote from: cjk374 on July 17, 2018, 08:08:35 AM
I am the special part of my hometown.

Admittedly, I laughed right out loud. Simsboro, from your signature, or somewhere else?


I have lived in Simsboro all 44 1/2 years of livin. Same house as well sans the 4 years I was in college. Those college years I lived in a most excellent bachelor pad at the dead end of Railroad Avenue here in Simsboro.

Strange thought: the longest amount of time I have ever been away from Simsboro is 3 solid weeks when I was working road construction in Pine Bluff, AR just after college.
Runnin' roads and polishin' rails.

Takumi

Some Revolutionary and Civil War battles.
Quote from: Rothman on July 15, 2021, 07:52:59 AM
Olive Garden must be stopped.  I must stop them.

Don't @ me. Seriously.

Rothman

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on July 17, 2018, 12:32:50 PM
Duluth/Superior-

-Westernmost point of the Great Lakes/most inland port in North America
-Bob Dylan's birthplace (Duluth and Hibbing, his childhood home, fight over who Dylan "belongs" to, which is ironic as Dylan himself wants little to do with either city)
-Duluth Rose Garden
-Aerial Lift Bridge

Superior has the most bars per capita of any city in Wisconsin. Yay, I guess.
Heh.  This brings back memories of what people touted about the are when I lived there.  Pointing out the Aerial Lift Bridge or the "most inland port" was half the time done tongue-in-cheek. :D
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

tchafe1978

My hometown was the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, Caroline Ingalls.

My current town is the location of Wisconsin's first territorial capitol.

slorydn1

My current "home town" (as in the place where I have spent the majority of my life) is the birthplace of Pepsi Cola.

My true hometown (birthplace) Kalamazoo Michigan? I can't think of much other than the running joke I would get whenever I answered the question "Where were you born?" I'd say Kalamazoo and they'd retort "Well I was born in a hospital"(giggle snort giggle). "Well so was I, dammit, Bronson Hospital to be exact!" (lol).
Please Note: All posts represent my personal opinions and do not represent those of any governmental agency, non-governmental agency, quasi-governmental agency or wanna be governmental agency

Counties: Counties Visited

jakeroot

Puyallup, WA has two "special" things about it:

- Nathan Chapman, killed on 4 Jan 2002, was the first casualty of the War in Afghanistan. He lived there while he was stationed in the middle east.

- John Reese (played by Jim Caviezel) from "Person of Interest" is from Puyallup. Fictional character though.

ET21

Home to or hosted a few famous people:
-Kevin Cronin (born 1951), lead vocalist for rock band REO Speedwagon
-Dan Donegan, guitarist for band Disturbed
-Pat Sajak, longtime host of Wheel of Fortune
-Dwyane Wade, guard for Cleveland Cavaliers and three-time NBA champion with Miami Heat, attended Richards High School in Oak Lawn

Event wise: 1967 Oak Lawn tornado outbreak
The local weatherman, trust me I can be 99.9% right!
"Show where you're going, without forgetting where you're from"

Clinched:
IL: I-88, I-180, I-190, I-290, I-294, I-355, IL-390
IN: I-80, I-94
SD: I-190
WI: I-90, I-94
MI: I-94, I-196
MN: I-90



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